DISCOVERART

Jan Toorop

The Arrival of the Muses of Art at Architecture

1890
Pen and brown ink and colored crayons on cream wove paper (discolored to buff), pieced
20.6 × 24.8 cm (8.1 × 9.8 in)

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In the collection of Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago · as of July 2026

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FROM THE ART INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO’S CATALOG

Jan Toorop was born in Indonesia, raised in the Netherlands, and married to an English wife. His art was as diverse as his cultural background. He experimented with many different styles, from Impressionism to Symbolism, and was adaptable even when working on a single image. This composition must have evolved as he drew. It comprises three individual pieces of paper. Traversing a watery expanse, personifications of the arts (music, painting, poetry or literature, and sculpture) come to alleviate laborers from drudgery. The muse of architecture sits unshackled at the foot of the image.

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